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On a plea by a woman claiming that her husband who was working in Riyadh, Jeddah has been missing since April last year, the Delhi High Court has today been informed by the Ministry of External Affairs that the man is infact deceased according to the Embassy of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. However, the Ministry of External Affairs has still not filed any formal reply in the matter, according to counsel for petitioner, Adv. Soumya Dutta. 

Dutta told the bench that it has been over a year, and the petitioner still has had no word from the Ministry. 

Counsel for the Centre sought time to file their reply and was granted the same. She informed the court verbally that the man is deceased and they have sought for his death certificate from Saudi but are yet to receive it.

A single judge bench of Justice Rekha Palli of the Delhi High Court had earlier issued notice to and sought replies from the Union of India, through the Ministry of External Affairs and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on a plea by a wife who claimed that her husband who was  working in Jeddah, Riyadh has been missing since April last year. 

Chandyara Bini SK submitted that her husband had been working in Saudi Arabia on a labour visa. She was allegedly informed by his colleagues that he is no more. 

Subsequently, she had written to the Government of India on Jul 2 last year upon which she received through an email dated Aug 2 assuring that the matter was being looked into.

The petitioner says that however till date no progress has happened and that she has been kept in the dark for over a year. 

“Such irresponsible inaction on the part of the Respondent No.1 (UOI) has kept the Petitioner in dark for close to a year now," the petitioner states.

She further said that she lives in a remote village 200 km away from Kolkata and has a dependent mother-in-law and two children, however, she is not being able to get her husband's death certificate in the absence of which, she is unable to obtain the Legal Heir certificate.

She said she has been unable to fulfill necessary formalities to access her deceased husband's bank account, making livelihood difficult for the family.

The court has directed the Embassy to provide information by the next date of hearing, i.e. Sep 27, 2021.

Earlier, in March this year, the court had heard a similar matter by another woman whose husband was allegedly wrongly buried as per Muslim rites in Saudi Arabia upon his death there. The bench of Justice Pratibha Singh hearing the case had termed it as an “unfortunate incident” and directed for immediate action on the case.

Case Title: Chandyara Bibi Sk vs UOI